The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday ** (1976, Lee Marvin, Oliver Reed, Robert Culp) – Classic Movie Review 5442

Director Don Taylor’s 1976 comedy Western is an amiable but uneven entertainment. Stars Lee Marvin, Oliver Reed and Robert Culp and its easy-going nature make up for the general air of slackness.

Lee Marvin does his ancient cowboy turn again from Cat Ballou (1965) as he plays frontiersman Sam Longwood who falls for a prostitute called Thursday (Kay Lenz), while conspiring with an old buddy, Joe Knox (Oliver Reed), to avenge themselves on their swindling gold-mine ex-pardner Jack Colby (Robert Culp). The zippy performances are better than Richard Shapiro’s devil-may-care screenplay.

Collectors of the exotic will note that Wimbledon-born Reed is certainly offbeat casting as a half-breed Indian and Harvard graduate.

Also in the cast are Elizabeth Ashley, Strother Martin, Sylvia Miles, Howard Platt and Joe Zacha.

It is also known by the rather snappier title Wildcat.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5442

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